Dissent
by areanna123
Summary: Set 3x12-3x13 Morgana has a chat with Morgause, and Gwen deals with conflicting emotions. One-shot.


**Merlin**

**Dissent**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin **

**A/N: Set 3x12-3x13 one-shot **

**word count: 2,309**

Gwen was straightening up, trying to hide the trembling in her hands as she watched Morgana. The new queen was sitting in front of her vanity, turning from left to right slowly to admire her profile with the bejeweled crown resting a top her head in a bed of ebony curls. Morgause was seated at the table, she seemed to be dividing her time equally between reading some official looking documents, and smiling with amused affection at Morgana. The warmth in Morgause's expression when looking at her sister surprised Gwen just as much as the cold, almost cruel, smirk of satisfaction that had adorned Morgana's face for the last several hours.

Gwen had been aware that Morgana didn't mean well to the people of Camelot, and she had been aware that Morgana was almost certainly in league with Morgause, but this whole situation still felt unreal. How could Lady Morgana betray her home for a crown and a woman who had kidnapped her? How could the dark-haired, pale-skinned young woman sit there so calmly, so pleased with herself, after what she had done? Most shocking of all, why wasn't Gwen more surprised? While the maidservant was angry and hurt by the actions of this new version of her old friend, she also felt a bit of guilt that she was having trouble ignoring. She couldn't help but notice the similarities between the old and new versions of the young woman, who was preoccupied with staring appreciatively at her own reflection. It felt like an insult to the old Morgana's memory to compare her to the monster that shared her face.

Morgana appeared to finally be satisfied with what she saw. She turned her back to the mirror, removing the crown carefully and placed it by her side, within arms reach, and kept it in her peripheral vision. It was almost as if she expected someone to jump out at her and steal the diadem away.

'If only' Gwen thought to herself, wishing that Arthur would hurry up and take back his kingdom.

Morgana was tapping her fingers, her brow was furrowed, she looked like she had forgotten something, and was trying to remember what it was. She stood up and took a seat next to the High Priestess. Morgause handed Morgana a few of the documents to start on. It was strange to see the remorseless traitoress and the frightening witch quietly doing onerous paperwork. Gwen would have been less surprised if they had started chanting and lighting candles.

The Queen thanked her sister vaguely, still looking troubled. Morgause seemed concerned, but held her questions in check, and signaled to Gwen to refill Morgana's wine goblet. Morgana didn't acknowledge her former friend.

Gwen had just stepped back when Morgana's head jerked up.

"Where's Cenred? I had thought we would have heard from him by now. It's unlike him to put off making demands."

"He's dead." Morgause didn't seem particularly interested in the topic at hand, but gave Morgana her entire attention anyway.

"Oh, how did that happen? He didn't fight in the battle, surely?"

"I killed him. Well, I had one of the immortal soldiers kill dear Cenred, but it amounts to same thing. Maybe even worse than killing him myself, as the man was one of Cenred's personal guards, sworn to protect him." The blonde haired sister spoke impenitently.

"Did he do something to upset you, or were you just tying up loose ends?" Morgana spoke as if she was being told an entertaining anecdote, rather than the gruesome passing of an ally.

While Gwen had no love for Cenred, it made her stomach clench to hear how flippant Morgana was about murder these days. Gwen was adding wood the fire when she realized that Morgana had never had much empathy for those she deemed unworthy of it, and very few had ever been worth much to Morgana.

Before her year long absence Morgana seemed to hold a certain sense of goodwill towards the people, and she had always been eager to help in times of trouble, but there had always been this feeling that she still held herself above others. Her kind acts were never meant to give anyone the idea that they were on the same level as she was. Arthur liked to think of himself as a man of the people, he enjoyed going down to the tavern, and having a laugh with the men. He didn't think one man was better than another just because one was born to a life of privilege, or that a noble was more deserving of happiness, and respect. Morgana held very strongly to the hierarchy, and had always believed that she deserved every luxury given her, and apparently those denied her, such as the throne of Camelot.

That familiar pang of guilt attacked once more as Gwen made more and more connections between the Morgana's old and new. The arrogance, the intelligence, the self-entitlement, the conviction, they were all traits that had always been there, to a certain degree. The ambition was something that seemed new, Morgana had appeared content with her standing for years. Then again the fact that she was already at the top might account for that. How much higher can you go from basically being a Princess?

Questions flashed through Gwen's mind, her turmoil growing with each one. Had everyone really just glazed over Morgana's not so pleasant qualities? Was the Morgana that had been her best friend just a trick of the light? Was new Morgana the real Morgana?

"No, he didn't do anything unexpected. I just didn't see what further use he could be to us, sssisster." Morgause shrugged, after hissing Morgana's title affectionately.

"Good, I never liked him. I still don't understand how you stomached so much time in his company."

"He had an army, we needed one. You'll understand one day. We can't always get what we want without being willing to make sacrifices."

Morgana looked a bit disgruntled by the note of condescension in her sisters voice, but let it go without comment. Morgana never did like being talked down to. In fact giving Morgana advice usually guaranteed that she would put all her energy into doing the opposite. Which might explain why a lot of her decisions didn't make much sense. Gwen noted that this was the first time she had seen Morgana not retaliate to a verbal barb. It was just Camelot's luck that Morgana get control of her natural propensity towards needless conflict with authority figures, after she turned evil, and the authority figure she now heeded was a vengeful sorceress with no concern for the lives of innocents.

Morgause suddenly seemed nervous, but resolved. It was as though she was about to address a delicate issue. A nervous Morgause was either a really good thing or a really bad thing. Gwen was suddenly torn between an intense desire to leave the room, and an even stronger desire to hear this conversation. She didn't quite decide whether Morgana's need to be attended at almost every moment was a blessing or a curse before the blonde sister put her thoughts into words.

"Sister, now that we are reunited, and our goal reached, I would like to continue your magic lessons."

Morgana looked uncomfortable, she opened and closed her mouth a few times before turning around to admire her crown, the one that was once worn by Arthur's mother, trying not to meet the elder sorceresses eyes. Before smirking triumphantly, "our goal is not complete until Arthur is dead. I will have no leisure for study until that is done. How exactly did you loose his trail again? I heard that it was a small rock fall that stopped the mighty Morgause."

"I will find and end your brother soon enough. It is not in the boy to stay hidden for long, even if, by some strange turn of fate, he evades me again. Besides we are not discussing myself, we are speaking of your education. Of your way to absolute power."

The word 'power' sobered Morgana up, and killed whatever retort had been on the tip of her tongue throughout Morgause's response. Just as it looked like Morgana was going to ask for those magic lessons here and now, a wall seemed to come up before Morgana. She shifted back to her earlier discomfort as she answered Morgause.

"I know enough to get by."

"You can barely light a candle."

Morgana puffed up giving off an offended air, before deflating and responded sounding sullen and embarrassed, "You've said it yourself, these things take time".

"It's been a year and half, sister. If you had less potential or were a complete fool I might understand the lack of progress. Unfortunately for you, I am aware that your raw power is incredible, you are highly intelligent, and you happen to be an astonishingly fast learner."

'Well' , thought Gwen, 'Morgause certainly has a high opinion of Morgana' . 'And apparently she was just taking a breath'.

"A prophecy was told to my mentor, that a powerful sorceress would shape the future of magic forever, for good or ill. I believe that sorceress is you. I'm not the only one, many believe that you are the future of our people, Morgana. The survival or destruction of magic will depend on you, and your choices. Those with magic will look to you for protection, leadership, and wisdom. You are the rightful Queen of Camelot and one day you will be a High Priestess of the old religion. Maybe even the most powerful servant of the goddess of all. I've never seen anything like your natural ability. Yet, you still act as if you are almost wary of your gifts."

'Gifts?', Gwen couldn't help recalling old Morgana waking up screaming, nearly in tears, almost nightly. The visions Morgana had received had always seemed painful, and terrifying. Gwen wondered if those were the kinds of gifts that Morgause was talking, and didn't blame Morgana for being a bit nervous of them. In fact it would probably be better for everyone if she was more so.

"Wary of magic? Me! That's ridiculous." Morgana finally met Morgause's gaze. "I think I've given more than enough evidence of my allegiance to those with magic."

"Your loyalty has never been in question-"

Here Gwen couldn't hold back a scoff. Which she turned into a painfully fake cough when she realized that she had interrupted Morgause, and was being watched by the sisters.

Morgana looked like she was going to hex the serving girl for a moment, her eyes just starting to glow gold, when Morgause subtly shook her head with a shrewd expression flashing across her face. A mask of kindness took it's place as she nodded at Gwen in greeting, as though she had forgotten her existence for a moment, and turned back to Morgana. She appeared to be feigning deafness for some reason.

"We will discuss your gift at a later date, if you are so keen to avoid the topic, for some incomprehensible reason. I meant to ask you how the quest for the loyalty of Camelot's knights was going."

Now Gwen knew why she was being tolerated. The Mor sisters still needed her to with Leon. It would be impossible for them to convince the stubborn to bow to Morgana if the courtyard massacre hadn't done the trick. Gwen was the only hope Morgana had at the moment of getting control of the knights, which was necessary unless she wanted to make them martyrs.

Morgana dismissed Gwen, and the serving girl didn't hear the usurpers answer. The Queen refused to respond until her former friend was out of earshot. This was not a good sign, as that probably meant that whatever Morgana was going to suggest next was something Gwen would disapprove of.

Gwen was left to walk the halls with only her thoughts for company. Her emotions began to bubble, and she felt tears stinging her eyes, before she managed to sternly stomp them down. Her personal feelings weren't going to change anything that was going on. Morgana made her choices, now it was time for Gwen make her own. Not that there was really any option. She had to do whatever she could to stop the ruthless, young, Monarch.

Gwen regretted that it had to come to this. Why couldn't Morgana just act rational for once? Why couldn't Morgana have just stayed everyone's friend? No matter how much she wished that things were different, she couldn't let someone hurt so many others just because that person used to be a confidante.

It was time to free Leon, and join Arthur. She just had to fool Morgana for a bit longer.

A/N: First let me say that Morgana is my favorite character, so if anyone found me to be too harsh towards her at some points, it's just because this is Gwen's Point Of View, and I believe that Gwen would have been upset with her. With good reason. I apologize if the she's and hers got a little confusing, I tried to make it clear. This fic is basically a character study. I'm thinking about writing a longer Merlin story and wanted to get in the characters heads a bit.

This scene was mostly about Gwen questioning what's going on with Morgana and accepting the change. It bothered me that people believed Morgana was evil so easily, I mean Arthur and Uther were the only ones who seemed to really question it. You'd think that Merlin would have at least checked to see if she was enchanted or something. Anyway, I look forward to hearing (reading) any thoughts or advice you guys might have.


End file.
